Howto Connect to Windows VPN server (PPTP) with Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)

Posted by admin on April 22nd, 2008 EMail This Post

This tutorial will explain how to Connect to Windows VPN server (PPTP) with Ubuntu Gutsy.Ubuntu makes it simple to connect to a Microsoft Windows VPN server at your workplace with NetworkManager and the pptp plugin.

Install PPTP Using the following command

sudo aptitude install network-manager-pptp

killall nm-applet

sudo /etc/init.d/dbus restart

nm-applet --sm-disable &

The above command do the following

install network-manager-pptp

restart NetworkManager daemon

restart nm-applet and begin configuring

If you are using kubuntu you need to install the following extra package

sudo aptitude install gnome-network-manager

Configure VPN

After restarting NetworkManager and nm-applet, a single click on the nm-applet should reveal a new option, VPN Connections.

Follow the menu, and select Configure VPN then Add a new connection.

Click Forward to begin the configuration. Go ahead and name your connection, then enter the IP address or DNS hostname of the VPN gateway under the Connection tab.

Next, move to the Authentication tab and activate Refuse CHAP.

At this point, the basic configuration is complete. I like to add one more step, however, to ensure that not all of my traffic is routed over the VPN. This can be detrimental for performance. If you’d rather limit your VPN traffic to a specific subnet, go ahead and execute the following:

Under the Routing tab, disable Peer DNS through tunnel (if desired) and enable the option to only use VPN connection for these addresses and enter your network subnet. If the machines on your network use addresses like 192.168.100.X, use something like the following

That’s it You’re done. To connect to the VPN, click the NetworkManager applet, and follow the menus to your newly configured connection. Enter your username, password, and domain, and you should be connected to your VPN server.